https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-15162-1
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
End-to-end reconstruction of ultra-high energy particle observables from radio detection of extensive air showers
1
Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 10 Yuanhua Road, Nanjing, China
2
School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, 230026, Hefei, China
3
School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, 210023, Nanjing, China
4
Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nanjing University, Ministry of Education, 210023, Nanjing, China
5
Faculty of Technology, Space Research Centre, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal
6
Instituto de Física La Plata-CCT La Plata-CONICET, Diagonal 113 y 63, La Plata, Argentina
7
Depto. de Física, Fac. de Cs. Ex., Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 48 y 115, La Plata, Argentina
Received:
10
July
2025
Accepted:
3
December
2025
Published online:
7
January
2026
The radio detection of very inclined air showers offers a promising avenue for studying ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and neutrinos. Accurate reconstruction methods are essential for investigating the properties of primary particles. Recently, we developed an analytical 
minimization method to reconstruct the electric field using three polarization components. The reconstruction yields no bias, with a 68% confidence interval of [
0.02, 0.02], and a standard deviation of 0.04 in the reconstruction of the peak envelope amplitude. In this paper, we perform a realistic reconstruction of the properties of primary particles using this reconstructed electric field. We employ a spherical wave model combined with an angular distribution function for arrival direction reconstruction, achieving an angular resolution of 
. We also present an energy reconstruction after accounting for the change in radio emission mechanisms in inclined air showers. We implement a new air-density correction factor, resulting in a 10% energy resolution. These results match the precision obtained when using simulated electric fields. These findings demonstrate the reliability and effectiveness of the recently developed electric field reconstruction methodology for its application on a typical event reconstruction chain. This ensures that the critical step of computing the electric field from the measure voltage at the antenna does not affect our ability to infer the properties of the primary particles, paving the way for future applications in radio experiments.
© The Author(s) 2025
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